Kim Jong Il The Last Great Leader Of North Korea

The aim of this leadership presentation is to study the character of Kim Jong il and to highlight the leadership qualities of him as a remarkable person who achieved the most of the great diversity in North Korea.

INTRODUCTION

Kim Jong Il was brown in 1942 in the Soviet Union. He is the eldest son of Kim il Sunand his first wife Kim Jong Suk. He spent first three years of his life in the Soviet Union and was known as Yuri. He went school in China to escape the Korean war. He was involved his political activities throughout his schooling. He studied Marxism, Philosophy and military science at University.

Following the death of his father Kim Jong Il inherited supreme power. He was named General Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party in October 1997 and September 1998.The Supreme People's Assembly reconfirmed Kim Jong Il as the Chairman of the National Defense Commission and declared that position as the " highest office of state". He is leader of the world's fourth largest army.

North Koreans believe that he is the world's greatest and kindest ruler so they call him " Dear Leader" If any North Korean say anything negative about him, It'll be extremely dangerous.

His hobbies are collecting cars and watching movies. He has many luxury Mercedes and over20000 videos. He loves Golf.

Childhood

Kim Jong il was brown in a secret military camp on Baekdu mountain in Japanese Korea where his father Kim Il Sung commanded the 1st battalion of the soviet 88th Battalion 1945 2nd world war ended and Korea reigned Independence from Japan. So his family returned to Korea via Soviet ship. In 1949 his mother died in childbirth.

Education

Kim Jong il went to school in china to escape the Korean war. He completed the course of general education between 1950 and 1960. During his school period he interests Music, Agriculture and Automotive repair. He was involved his political activities throughout his schooling. He was active in the children's Union and the Democratic Youth League ( D Y L ), he became vice chairman of his middle school's D Y L branch in 1957.

Kim Jong Il began studying at Kim Il Sung University in 1960, majoring in Marxist political conomy. His minor subjects included philosophy and military science. while at University he joined the orker's Party of Korean in 1961. He graduated from Kim Il Sung University in 1964.

Political Career

After graduating in 1964, Kim John Il began his ascension through the ranks of the ruling Korean Workers' Party ( K W P ) The ideologyfollowed was the Marxism - Leninism got rid of feudal Confucian ideas within the party.He was appointed instructor and section chief to the party central committee.he worked antiparty revisionists and cleared the structure.He toured the country giving guidance on technical restructuring. He turned his action to the military. Eliminated bureaucrats in the K P A oppressing the Army's political organizations and distorting state ordersHe revolutionized the Korean fine arts. Artists were encouraged to create works according to the new concepts.In 1970 he was appointed vice director of the Party Central committee (PPC).In 1973 became Party Secretary to organization affairs. This was the chief position in the party. In 1980 6th Party Congress- He had complete control of the party operations he was giving senior posts in the Politburo, the Military commission and the party Secretariat. when he was made a member of the Seventh Supreme People's Assembly in February 1982. Government build a personality cult around him " Dear Leader " In 1991 he was named supreme commander of the North Korean armed forces. His 50th birthday celebrated in 1992. Under Kim Jong Il the Korean Governing System became more centralized andautocratic. He demanded absolute obedience and agreement with no advice or compromise.

RULER OF NORTH KORIA

On 8 July 1994, Kim Il-sung died, at the age of 82 from a heart attack. However, it took three years for Kim Jong-il to consolidate his power. He officially took the titles of General Secretary of theWorkers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defense Commission on 8 October 1997. In 1998, his Defense Commission chairmanship was declared to be "the highest post of the state", so Kim may be regarded as North Korea's head of state from that date. Also in 1998, the Supreme People's Assembly wrote the president's post out of the constitution in memory of Kim Il-Sung, who was designated the country's "Eternal President". It can be argued, though, that he became the country's leader when he became leader of the Workers' Party; in most Communist countries the party leader is the most powerful person in the country.

Officially, Kim is part of a triumvirate heading the executive branch of the North Korean government along with Premier Choe Yong-rim and parliament chairman Kim Yong-nam (no relations). Each nominally has powers equivalent to a third of a president's powers in most other presidential systems. Kim Jong-il is commander of the armed forces, Choe Yong-rim heads the government and Kim Yong-nam handles foreign relations. In practice, however, Kim Jong-il exercises absolute control over the government and the country.

Although Kim is not required to stand for popular election to his key offices, he is unanimously elected to the Supreme People's Assembly every five years, representing a military constituency, due to his concurrent capacities as KPA Supreme Commander and Chairman of the DPRK NDC.

ECONOMIC POLICIES

The state-controlled economy of North Korea struggled throughout the 1990s, primarily due to the loss of strategic trade arrangements with the Soviet Union and strained relations with China following China's normalization with South Korea in 1992. In addition, North Korea experienced record-breaking floods (1995 and 1996) followed by several years of equally severe drought beginning in 1997. This, compounded with only 18% arable land and an inability to import the goods necessary to sustain industry, led to an immense famine and left North Korea in economic shambles. Faced with a country in decay, Kim adopted a "Military-First" policy to strengthen the country and reinforce the regime. On the national scale, this policy has produced a positive growth rate for the country since 1996, and the implementation of "landmark socialist-type market economic practices" in 2002 kept the North afloat despite a continued dependency on foreign aid for food.

In the wake of the devastation of the 1990s, the government began formally approving some activity of small-scale bartering and trade. As observed by Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at the Stanford University Asia-Pacific Research Center, this flirtation with capitalism is "fairly limited, but — especially compared to the past — there are now remarkable markets that create the semblance of a free market system."In 2002, Kim Jong-il declared that "money should be capable of measuring the worth of all commodities." These gestures toward economic reform mirror similar actions taken by China's Deng Xiaoping in the late 1980s and early 90s. During a rare visit in 2006, Kim expressed admiration for China's rapid economic progress.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung implemented the "Sunshine Policy" to improve North-South relations and to allow South Korean companies to start projects in the North. Kim Jong-il announced plans to import and develop new technologies to develop North Korea's fledgling software industry. As a result of the new policy, the Kaesong Industrial Park was constructed in 2003 just north of the de-militarized zone, with the planned participation of 250 South Korean companies, employing 100,000 North Koreans, by 2007. However, by March 2007, the Park contained only 21 companies — employing 12,000 North Korean workers.As of May 2010 the park employs over 40,000 North Korean workers.

In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an Agreed Framework which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating nuclear reactors. In 2002, Kim Jong-il's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons since the 1994 agreement. Kim's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes — citing the presence of United States-owned nuclear weapons in South Korea and the new tensions with the US under President George W. Bush. On 9 October 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

Mission Command

Kim Jong Il could be considered as a leader who exercised Msn comd towards his subordinates, in that when he want to launch an all-Party struggle to expose and smash anti-Party revisionists organizationally to achieve the unity and cohesion of the Party. In mid-April of 1967, a meeting of officials of the Party Central Committee was held to stamp out the evil ideological aftereffects of the anti-Party revisionists.

He also took great efforts to establish the Party’s monolithic ideological system in the Korean People’s Army. Kim Jong Il energetically fought against the military bureaucratic actions of alien elements who had established a foothold in commanding positions of the army.

Motivation

Kim Jong Il personally mixed with working people and inspired Party members and other working people to a fresh, great revolutionary upsurge. He visited the Ryongsong Machine Factory on August 8, 1967, explained the essence and significance of the Party’s new policy of effecting a great revolutionary upsurge and encouraged the workers to advance in the vanguard of this upsurge. They did it more than 80 days ahead of schedule as befitting standard- bearers of the great upsurge. The appeal of the workers of Ryongsong and the success of their efforts powerfully encouraged the working class throughout the country to undertake a great revolutionary upsurge.

Initiative

Kim Jong Il ensured that efforts were made to carry out the task of socialist industrialization by establishing an independent and modern industry in the building of socialist economy.

He visited the most of factories, industries and work sites and gave guidance to the workers so that the problems of strengthening the independence of industry and stepping up its modernization were solved successfully.

Kim Jong Il saw that the tendency of doing Party work by administrative methods, such as giving orders and directions and collecting statistics, was eliminated once and for all, and that Party work was completely turned into work among people, into political work.

To effect a revolution in the cinema, Kim Jong Il paid prime attention to fully preparing film artists, who were entrusted with this task, politically and practically.

He encouraged film artists to work hard to arm themselves with the Juche idea, make themselves revolutionary and assimilate themselves to the working class.

Successful fulfilment of the national economic plan for 1974, the first year of grand socialist construction, was a decisive factor in carrying out the Six-Year Plan ahead of schedule, before the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Party, and in making a leap forward to a high stage in grand socialist con struction.

Kim Jong Il initiated a 70-day campaign and the key to the victory of the 70-day campaign in ideological motivation, and made sure that education in loyalty to the Party and the leader, as well as the struggle to overcome every manner of ideological malady obstructing progress, were stepped up among the working people. During this period industrial production grew by 70 percent and the gross industrial output value in 1974 increased by 17.2 per cent compared with the previous year.

Kim Jong Il took measures to provide scientists and technicians with better conditions for scientific research and ensured that the officials who had achieved great successes in their scientific and technical research were conferred with decorations and honorary titles.

He made efforts to intensify the practice of Juche-motivated tactics, shooting and physical training and sport within the army, improve military equipment with the main emphasis on raising the capacity of the units for attacking and their mobility, and make the combat and technical equipment modern and home-made. As a result, the People’s Army made remarkable progress in its military and technical preparations.

Kim Jong Il clarified the origination of the Juche idea, of philosophy centering on man and clarified a new philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides everything, he developed further the Juche-orientated view of man’s essential characteristics and gave scientific definitions to a fresh view and stand on the world based on the philosophical principle of Juche.

Kim Jong Il proposed building comprehensive welfare service in each province, city and county (district), as a model. Kim Jong Il mapped out a blueprint for grand construction in order to fully solve the people’s housing problem and pushed it forward.

Many workers, peasants, intellectuals, men and officers of the People’s Army and young people sent their letters written by their hearts to Comrade Kim Jong Il. He personally replied to their simple letters, thus giving love to them.

Enthusiasm

Kim Jong Il also worked energetically to bring about a great revolutionary upsurge in the building of the defences to increase the nation’s defence capabilities.

Kim Jong Il explained the specific tasks for boosting the defence capability of the country in February 1968, and led the army and the people to their implementation.

He attached primary importance to firmly arming the soldiers politically and ideologically in increasing the defence capabilities of the country, and made sure the Party organizations and political organs in the army did away with the evil consequences of military bureaucracy, and carried out political and ideological education of the soldiers in depth. He mastered the Juche oriented tactics to command which would enable them to efficiently command battles and administer their units under any circumstances.

Kim Jong Il paid close attention to improving weapons and equipment of the People’s Army and guided the work of the munitions industry to mass-produce powerful modern weapons to suit the specific conditions of Korea and the constitution of the Koreans.

To arm all the people, he made sure that a better organized commanding system was established for the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, and that their weapons and equipment were improved and their training intensified.

To effect the fortification of the whole country on a higher stage, along with the arming of the entire people, he inspected the east and west coasts and other points of military importance in July 1967 and on many other occasions afterwards.

Loyalty

Kim Jong Il ensured that the 60th birthday of Kim Il Sung was celebrated in fabulous style and guided the people to cherish intense loyalty to the leader on the occasion, and devote everything to the struggle to carry forward the revolutionary cause of Juche to completion through the generations.

He led the Party members and working people to engrave the loyalty to the Party and leader with belief and conscience and to sublimate it into the morality of their life.

As a result, the whole Party and the society were converted into a socio-political organism, sharing life and death on the basis of revolutionary obligation and comradeship, and into a large family of kinship living in harmony, helping and leading each other.

He led the Party members and working people to engrave the loyalty to the Party and leader with belief and conscience and to sublimate it into the morality of their life. As a result, the whole Party and the society were converted into a socio-political organism, sharing life and death on the basis of revolutionary obligation and comradeship, and into a large family of kinship living in harmony, helping and leading each other.

He guided Party meetings and meetings to review stage performances in film art on many occasions and induced film artists to retain loyalty to the Party and the leader and establish a strong discipline and system for carrying out their creative activities under the leadership of the Party.

He induced Party officials to make it a rule to visit their subordinate units, carrying knapsacks on their backs to work there, as the anti-Japanese guerrillas had done, and to establish a well-organized system of guiding their subordinate units, a system under which they would work at these units for 20 days a month, and then return to their respective departments to rearm themselves and elaborate a new work plan during the remaining ten days.

Kim Jong Il has enjoyed absolute authority as the leader of the revolution and boundless trust and respect of the Korean people. He set military affairs as the most important of the state affairs and regarded the Korean People’s Army as the main force of the revolution and backbone of the self-reliant defence force.

Unity of effort

82. Kim Jong Il inspired the army to give full play to the qualities of unity between officers and soldiers, unity between Party members and members of the League of Socialist Working Youth and unity between the army and the people. He ensured intensified military training, strict military discipline and strengthened fighting capacity and combat preparations of the People’s Army. From early 1992 he saw to it that various kinds of combat training was organized and conducted at a higher level, and gave field guidance.

Knowledge

83. Inspired by his on-site guidance, the officers and men of the KPA have been fully prepared as the foremost guard and death-defying corps of the Supreme Commander Kim Jong Il, fighting without hesitating to lay down their youth and life under the slogan “Let us defend at the risk of our lives the headquarters of the revolution headed by Kim Jong Il.

LESSON LEARNT

84. Kim John Il is a highly motivated and determined person from his child hood. By looking at his father, Kim learnt the politics from his chilled hood. Courage and determination to climb up in the political ladder is significantly displayed by his character. He entered the politics while schooling and practiced command and leadership by the students guiding towards ideological education. He improves the organizing capability from the school by organizing academic competition, seminars and the field trip. He also identified as a good listener and follower. Kim followed his fathers foot steps from the beginning of his carrier and ultimately able to climb up to the top of the political ladder of the country. He believed to be a hard working man and able to tolerate any hardships coming on to him. It is obviously proved that Kim silently waits for 22 years to become leader of the country. He became leader of the country at the age of 55 years. Through out of his 55 years of life he learnt the politics as a doctrine which will play major role in his life as a political leader. Kim is very emotional person and does not like to take criticism over his opinions. Because of this quality of life some used to say that Kim John Il is dictator.

85. He was very genius in his profession and able to evacuate all barriers which came cross along the march towards leadership of the country. Initially he displaced his father’s younger brother who was eligible to become leader of the country. Kim Yong Ju hides from the public life in year around 1975 and later he was appointed as four vice president in the country. Later one of his brother Kim Pyong Il emerge as a hair to leadership of the country. It is also exaggerated by his mother Kim Song Ae, but Kim John Il able to send him abroad as a ambassador to Hungary followed by Bulgaria, Finland and most recently to Poland. As a leader he posses the quality of foresee of the situation, hence he got the remedial action in correct place at the correct time by displacing his fathers younger brother and the sending his brother as ambassador he avoided the threat for command comprehensively. Kim John Il is commander in chief for the fourth largest army in the world. Kim already controls the total of 9495000 active military members in his army. Although there were two reported coup attempt against Kim, he able to notice them before hand. Although there were coup attempt to eliminate his power he did not demoralize him self.

86. He managed to over come almost all the resistant come from the military and success in his political carrier. As a leader he had the courage to over come the barriers ahead in the political life. It is one of a great quality that he had the common sense to decision making at the decisive point. If he did not take sound decision of the place where he came cross with two military coups his leadership would not have been there in the North Korea presently. Also introducing military first system in the country he demonstrated the faithfulness towards the military of the country. It is obvious that a person controlling a fourth largest army in the world posses enormous leadership qualities around his character. Kim seems to be a person who makes decision based on his own evaluation. He is advised by various groups in and around him. But the information provided to him is not much believed by the Kim himself. So Kim John Il aware about this situation and established informal network around the country. These informers inform directly his office regarding any matter which interested by the leader. Kim also poses good quality which takes the advice from visiting locals around the country. This practice has given the opportunity of taking on the spot guidance to their leader. This system of gathering of information displayed that Kim is prefer to listen to an others views and get the idea through practical experience of the people.

87. Success of the leader depends on how much he has understood the desired aim correctly and concisely. Kim John Il is a leader who had understand his aim clearly. From the child hood he walks along the path of success. He was a shadow of his father Kim Il Sung. When, his father commanding the men on the ground, Kim was eager to learn the style of the leadership on the ground. The back ground knowledge gain from his father immensely helps him to achieve the desired political goal. Kim understands the heart beat of his own people. Following his fathers foot steps Kim able to closely amalgamate with his own people a member of the family. North Korean leader has several distinguish characteristics in his life some are unique to him and carry from his birth. Although Kim John Il command the fourth largest army in the world he has the fear of flying. Politics is a field which changes frequently depending on the changing situation. Kim tolerated 22 years for all the changes happened in his political path towards the goal. A dynamic characteristic displayed by his father was the seed of success of Kim John Il political carrier.